


The Pheasant Tale:  A Love Story

by xenachakram12



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Crack, Fairy Tale Style, Fluff, M/M, Schmoop, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 19:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenachakram12/pseuds/xenachakram12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just your basic story of a prince and how he came to realize that he don't need no stinking princess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pheasant Tale:  A Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> mediaville on lj issued a challenge to explain the attached photo. This was my reply.

 

 

Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince named Jared. Jared was born to the king and queen of Australia on the hottest day of the year, in the hottest part of the Outback. Being loving and benevolent rulers, his parents were taking an open-air coach to the farthest recesses of their domain, learning the territory and meeting the people who scratched out a living there.

When the queen began her labor, the coach driver halted the carriage to assess the situation, but no assessment was needed. The birthing ended as quickly as it began, and within minutes, the queen had her son in her arms. The boy did not cry, but sighed, as if he’d been waiting to breathe in the hot, dry air of his homeland.

 

The king looked upon his strong, healthy child, and bestowed upon him his most kingly gift; he removed his own hat, a straw Akubra called Schipperke, and placed it on the head of his son.

 

The queen observed and smiled. She decided her son the most fair of any being she had ever seen. She vowed that day not to stifle his beauty with unnecessary clothing, so instead of swaddling the child, she merely diapered him and held him open to the sun. She held him as the coach began moving, continuing on its quest. She named him Jared.

 

Jared spent his youth among the dried grasses and the loose, red dirt of the Outback. He grew tall and strong like a tree, his body corded with muscle. His feet grew long to accommodate his travel, and his hands became large and deft to facilitate his climbing. Jared never wore a shirt—his mother wouldn’t have allowed it—so his skin was as rich and brown as the earth around him.

 

///

 

Now, in the spring of his twenty-first year, Jared sits among his favorite dingo pack as they wrestle and snarl in play. The dingoes are the first to notice the arrival.

 

A passing coach slows and stops near Jared’s location. The prince observes the vehicle. Unlike his own coach, this one is fully enclosed—even the windows are covered in fabric. Jared questions why anyone would want to separate themselves from the sun and the air.

 

As he considers this, the door to the coach opens and a man steps out. The man is fair, his hair light. He is tall, though not as tall as Jared himself, but his shoulders match Jared’s in width. He stands upon two long legs that bow out at the knee and he wears a ring on his right hand. The man approaches, and when Jared sees the clear green of his eyes, Jared for the first time longs to taste the sea.

 

The man stops before him, seemingly timid, but speaks with a quiet, deep voice. “Hey, man… could you help us find the castle?”  The man raises his broad, pale palm and places it on the back of his neck, raising and lowering it from the collar of his shirt to his hairline. “We’re kinda lost.”

 

Jared peers up at the man from under the brim of his father’s hat and then jumps up from where he is seated, wary dingoes long gone. He stands before the man, smiles his best smile, and nods. The man smiles back, though sheepishly, before extending his hand. “I’m Jensen, by the way.”

 

Jared directs the coach back to the castle where his parents live and where Jared keeps his things. Jensen seems surprised to find that Jared resides here, but doesn’t dwell on it. Jared finds out that Jensen is here to work as staff, but instead of allocating him a staff room, Jared installs him in guest quarters not far from Jared’s own abode.

 

For the first time in many years, Jared forsakes sleeping outside under the stars with his animal friends. Instead he climbs into his too-comfortable bed and is unable to rest as his mind races and his face aches from smiling. While Jared goes over the day in his mind, outside the dingo pack whimpers softly at his absence.

 

Jared still enjoys his days roaming the bush, but each week he spends more and more time at the castle. He helps Jensen with his work caring for the horses, noticing more than once Jensen’s strong back and arms. They speak and joke as they work, though they sometimes pass the time existing in companionable silence. If Jared sometimes catches Jensen’s eyes on his bare torso, he dares not to admit it to himself.

 

Many months pass, as summer slides into fall. Jared and Jensen have somehow become JaredandJensen, as if they are some sort of unit, and whenever Jared is seen without Jensen, people always ask of his friend’s whereabouts. Jared doesn’t mind, though, for this rarely ever happens.

 

When the days begin to noticeably shorten, Jared’s parents ask to speak with him. They tell him that he’s a man now and the time has come to marry. Jared is taken aback, because the idea of marriage has simply never occurred to him, but once he hears the idea, a warmth spreads from the pit of his stomach to the rest of his body, causing his ears to redden and his fingers to tingle. He knows exactly who he will choose to marry, because there is simply one person with whom he would choose to spend his life. As Jared opens his mouth to announce his choice, his parents interrupt to tell him that his first suitor will arrive the following day.

 

Jared protests, telling his parents that he’s already found his love but they will not listen. They insist his love for Jensen is simply that of convenience and friendship, and that he will receive suitors until he finds an appropriate match. Jared tries to argue, but the subject is closed and Jared is swept away to prepare for his future guests.

 

Jensen acts supportive as Jared prepares himself for the first arrival. He makes dry jokes and teases Jared, but there’s a sadness to his eyes, and when the suitor appears, Jensen retires for the day.

 

Weeks pass as Jared meets princes and princesses alike. He finds most amiable, but cannot love a single one. Jared spends many nights arguing with his parents, trying to convince them with his words and the emotion in his voice to let him lead his own life. Finally, after much coercion, the king and queen vow to let Jared choose his mate—after he meets with one final suitor. 

 

Genevieve Cortese is a small, dark woman with long, flowing hair. She is beautiful and has a queenly name, so the king and queen like her very much. Jared finds her sweet and pleasant, if not very exciting.

 

To appease his parents, Jared tries honestly to find happiness with Genevieve, but it cannot be done. Her eyes are dark and dull rather than clear and dancing, and when he imagines putting his hands on her tiny frame, he longs instead for a broad expanse of back.

 

When Jared tells Genevieve that she is not his match, she becomes enraged. Her dull, dark eyes turn fiery with spite and the light that bathes the room dims. She seems to triple in size as she speaks strange words in an unnatural, booming voice. Jared is struck still with fear and foreboding, and when the woman finishes her speech, she returns to her previous appearance and the light slowly filters back into the room.

 

“I know why you cannot love me, Jared Padalecki. You believe you love another— but no matter. I have laid a curse upon you. You must find and kiss your true love within three days.  If you cannot accomplish this by midnight on the third day, you will give up your love and marry me.”

 

Jared is shocked and disgusted. How could he ever marry this witch? He nods shakily, frightened of the slight woman before him, but confident that he will complete his task.

 

The witch disappears in a wisp of smoke, and after taking a moment to recover, Jared heads straight for the stables. He has never admitted his love for Jensen, and Jensen has never claimed love for him, but he knows with every part of himself that Jensen is his destiny.

 

Jared arrives at the stables, but finds no one. His heart falls momentarily, but Jared is determined. He proceeds to Jensen’s room, only to find it empty as well. He asks everyone he encounters where his friend may be, but to no avail. Jensen has disappeared.

 

The next morning Jared takes his fastest, mightiest horse from her stable and rides out into the Outback for hours looking for his love. He does this again and again and on the evening of the third day, he returns to the castle in defeat. The prince hangs his head and drags his feet as he returns the mare to her stable. Once she is safely inside, Jared turns to leave only to be accosted by a very strange bird with an emerald head and long tail feathers.

 

Jared shoos the bird and continues on to his room. As he passes by Jensen’s quarters though, he revises his plans and enters. The room still smells of him, and it hits Jared so hard he nearly stumbles. Jared sits down at the table, rests his head in his hands, and weeps.

 

Suddenly, something sharp strikes Jared in the top of his head. He looks up through his tears to find the strange bird looking at him expectantly—and perhaps even slightly annoyed. Jared begins to dry his tears while he contemplates the bird, which continues to stare at him with a strange intensity. Dejected, Jared proceeds to remove the bird; he wraps the bird’s small body in his large hands and stands, and as he prepares to carry it outside he looks into its eyes.

 

Its eyes are green and luminous, full of life and humor, and they make Jared smell the sea.

 

“ _Jensen_?” It’s almost a whisper. Jared feels like a fool, but one glance at the night sky convinces him not to take any chances. Just as the moon slides to its highest point in the sky, Jared brings the beautiful bird up to his mouth and kisses it.

 

In an instant, the shutters on the windows blow inward, shaking violently, as it seems the entire night sky rushes in the room all at once. Jared closes his eyes to the onslaught and when he opens them again, he realizes that he no longer feels feathers under his hands, but warm skin pulled taut over slim hips. Jared looks into Jensen’s eyes and smiles with relief.

 

Jensen looks a little confused, but he quickly begins to smile, too. He doesn’t hold back like he so often does; this smile bears all his teeth and makes the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkle.

 

“So, dude.” Jensen says casually. “Do you go around kissing _every_ stray animal you pick up in the street? ‘Cause that’s just unsanitary.”

 

Jared bursts out laughing, but before he can even finish, Jensen has his mouth on him. The kiss begins innocently enough, just an assurance of what they haven’t lost. It’s not long though before they pour everything they’ve been holding back into it, and soon the pressing need of their bodies becomes greater than their need to be gentle.

 

The next day Jared brings Jensen before his parents and tells them he’s chosen his mate. They don’t argue at all.

 

On the fifth day, they marry under the heat of the Australian sun. Jared remains bare to the waist while Jensen wears a crisp, white shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. As the minister rambles on, Jared notices a new honey-colored freckle on Jensen’s sculptured nose. With a crooked smile, he removes his father’s hat and places it on his lover’s head. Jensen looks shy but happy.

 

When all is said and done, the two kiss soundly to bind their agreement. The dingoes watch from a distance, silent in their approval.

  
 


End file.
